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WASHINGTON, Sep. 17, 2007 -- More than 100 organizations from across the country are calling for the next President to commit to ending the AIDS epidemic in America. They have requested that every Presidential candidate commit to developing a results-oriented national AIDS strategy designed to significantly reduce HIV infection rates, ensure access to care and treatment for those who are infected and eliminate racial disparities. The groups issued a “Call to Action” that has been presented to all Presidential candidates. The Call to Action and a list of supporters is available at www.nationalaidsstrategy.org.

“More than 1.7 million HIV infections and over half a million deaths into the domestic AIDS epidemic, our government still does not have a comprehensive plan to respond effectively,” said Rebecca Haag, Executive Director of AIDS Action. “The wealthiest nation in the world is failing its own people in responding to the AIDS epidemic at home. Our country must develop what it asks of other nations it supports in combating AIDS: a comprehensive national strategy to achieve improved and more equitable results.”

The Call to Action asserts that the lack of an outcome-based response to HIV domestically has lead to unacceptable results: half of people with HIV are not in care, there is a new infection every 13 minutes, infection rates have not fallen in more than 15 years, and dramatic racial disparities are becoming even more pronounced.

“America’s response to AIDS is not serving those most in need,” said Phill Wilson, Executive Director of the Black AIDS Institute. “We cannot make significant progress on national AIDS statistics unless government and community efforts better respond to the needs of Black America, and we need a comprehensive national strategy to get there.”

“We need a plan, not a patchwork,” said Julie Davids, Executive Director of Community HIV/AIDS Mobilization Project (CHAMP). “We need to move from a response to AIDS that is often bureaucratic to one that is evidence-based and outcomes-oriented; a response that reaches everyone at risk of infection or needing care.”

The Call to Action statement states that to be successful a national AIDS strategy should:

* Improve prevention and treatment outcomes through reliance on evidence-based programming* Set ambitious and credible prevention and treatment targets and require annual reporting on progress towards goals* Identify clear priorities for action across federal agencies and assign responsibilities and timelines for follow-through* Include, as a primary focus, the prevention and treatment needs of African Americans, other communities of color, gay men of all races, and other groups at elevated risk* Address social factors that increase vulnerability to infection* Promote a strengthened HIV prevention and treatment research effort* Involve many sectors in developing the national strategy: government, business, community, civil rights organizations, faith based groups, researchers, and people living with HIV/AIDS

Mark Cloutier, the Executive Director of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation notes the “enormous human and economic costs resulting from the lack of a focused response to HIV/AIDS domestically. Without action there will be more unnecessary deaths, billions of dollars in increased health care expenses and a significant loss of productivity in our economy. A more effective national response to HIV/AIDS is a critical part of building a stronger and more responsive health care system for all Americans.”

Pernessa Seele, founder and CEO of The Balm In Gilead, said, "The legacy of the next Executive Office resident will be determined by what she or he says and does to move communities and this country from where we are - in crisis because of HIV/AIDS - to where we want and need to be - a world leader in the advancement of research, testing, treatment and eradication of HIV/AIDS at home and abroad."

"It is unconscionable that the United States, which has all the necessary resources to end the AIDS epidemic, does not have a comprehensive plan to stop AIDS deaths, reduce infections, and get people the medical care that they need," said Robert Bank, Chief Operating Officer of Gay Men's Health Crisis, (GMHC) in New York.

“We want the American public to know that the knowledge and strategies needed to end the nation’s HIV/AIDS crisis already exist,” said David Ernesto Munar, vice president at the AIDS Foundation of Chicago. “Strong national leadership can change the course of the epidemic.”

AIDS advocates and leaders all over the country are currently contacting their colleagues in civil rights, social justice, and health care organizations urging their endorsement and support.

All organizations and individuals concerned about America’s AIDScrisis are encouraged to sign the Call to Action at www.nationalaidsstrategy.org

Edwards supports the Early Treatment for HIV Act which will expand Medicaid to cover HIV-positive individuals in every state before they reach later stages of disability and AIDS. Currently, in most states, individuals must receive an AIDS diagnosis to receive services under Medicaid even though research shows that the sooner individuals living with HIV receive treatment the better the outcomes. [Porco et al., 2004]

i watched edwards on the "kaisernetwork.org" presidential forums and then waited patiently for sen clinton's opportunity.

clinton's turned out to be in a different form than edwards, to begin with. edwards was allowed to sit with a interviewer and present his plan while sen clinton was before a panel of journalists.

while edwards was asked a series of questions covering many health related issues, of which the topic of his aids platform/plan seemed prominate, sen clinton's questions seemed totally focused on her plan for quality health care for all, and not one question was asked of her concerning her aids plan.

i'm not quite sure how these forums are designed or how the questions are decided upon, but it would seem they should be consistent with all candidates so we can judge their response to our own particular issues accordingly.

following edwards' presidential forum i received countless e-mails reviewing his aids platform and the opinions of it by numerous aids advocasy organizations. i was unable to view sen clinton's forum live, and found it very odd that the same flood of e-mails did not follow in the days after.

upon finally getting onto the site and having a chance to watch, now i know why. does anyone have an explanation for this oversite. why do we not have from kaiser an aids platform from sen clinton.

as someone who has visited her office every year since she was elected, sen clinton has been known to be one of our strongest advocates. with so much riding how each candidate responds to these health related issues, i find this omission very alarming.

philly, thank you for an extremely informative post and to you allopathic for providing others with the site to these forums. but i must agree with you both, as well, on the lack of additional posts from others to this thread (other than you moonlight). it seems that the trend of decreasing interest in attending "aidswatch" in wash dc compares alarmingly to the lack of interest shared in this thread. with a presidential election just a year away, primaries around the corner, and funding cuts from the new ryan white legislation being felt everywhere in this country, why aren't more folks engaged in this discussion?

but i must agree with you both, as well, on the lack of additional posts from others to this thread (other than you moonlight).

Hi poppi: There are posts in other forums like Living With HIV and Off Topic. However in the larger forums I think they tend to blend into the woodwork. Also, we're pretty far away from November 2008 but I suppose now's the time to scrutinize/mobilize

This PDF from the GMHC has profiles of the candidates (Democrats and Republicans) and it mentions issues like mandatory testing and Ryan White. It also seems to have information on their track records. PS Thank you, Ray (J.R.E.) for posting the link in Living With HIVhttp://www.gmhc.org/policy/federal/pres_report.pdf

but i must agree with you both, as well, on the lack of additional posts from others to this thread

I certainly would not correlate lack of posts with lack of interest by site members. Far from it. There are many threads that are read that gather no posts, but it doesn't mean people aren't interested and reading.

Several of us are participating in other activism pursuits--some of which have time limits. I appreciated the thread when it was started and the link bump. I'm certain others do, too.

but i must agree with you both, as well, on the lack of additional posts from others to this thread

I certainly would not correlate lack of posts with lack of interest by site members. Far from it. There are many threads that are read that gather no posts, but it doesn't mean people aren't interested and reading.

Several of us are participating in other activism pursuits--some of which have time limits. I appreciated the thread when it was started and the link bump. I'm certain others do, too.

I agree though I do understand the frustration of lack of participation in the Activism forum.

I think we need to accept that people with HIV are no different than people who do not have HIV and that means the majority of people are uncomfortable with being active politically and activism wise. This is not a judgement and I hope no one reads this as some sort of baiting - I'm making an observation that I want to be clear includes me and my own interest of participation in such activities for most of my life.

I think we are by nature creatures who prefer comfort over struggle, which I think is natural. Unfortunately I think the problem is that the comfort component of our desires grows more encompassing with the additional of more and more comforts. As I wrote in another thread: "I said in my opening that some give up the fight once they realize it costs them something and that is only partially the problem - The real and depressing issue is that the cost that is deemed too much by some seems to be a lower and lower nowadays, and for some seems to be about the going price of an inconvenience."

I think the idea of being involved civically for many of us (and please note I include myself for most of my life) ends at the discussion, debate or opinion level. In my mind I think the key is not to get bogged down in those who will not participate, but to scream outloud to attract those who will...and then make something happen.

iggy, a quote from your bio:"It’s funny, there are so many morality tales about the risk of becoming too jaded or gloomy yet most don’t realize that there is an equal danger in feeling too optimistic. As with the danger of the labeled pessimistic and morose dwelling in their sadness, there is an equal risk (though often unrecognized or dismissed) of the happy and positive outlook people being too busy basking in the sun to realize the very pitfalls they are walking into. I should know, I was one of them."

i'm not sure why, but this quote in your bio seems to sound alot like what you just posted in this thread. hopefully i will find the right words to explain why your statements, in both, seem to reflect an atmosphere that has me so concerned today. this is not a personal attack on you. it is a commentary on the apathy of which you speak of.

in some ways, i am willing to accept how certain positives are not ready to get involved. the newly infecteds have all they can do to deal with their recent diagnosis.......... i've been there and accept the lengthy process one needs in trudging through that emotional minefield. it took me 8 years and a spark to ignite the activism in me.

many of the LTS's have been fighting the good fight for quite a while, but burnout, age, or illness eventually take their toll.

my concerns are for the many folks who have lived through the early 90's, may have even faced death, and were granted new life thanks to our life saving meds. or to those who were infected post HAART, & who have had access to their meds & services thanks to the ryan white care act and ADAP. where are the multitudes of these folks?

i have been spending time on this website for about a year now hoping to meet more positives interested in picking up the charge of others who have either passed on, or are suffering from burnout. the time has come to understand that what has been keeping you well since you were first infected; the meds, the support groups, the transportation services, dental & mental health visits, the nutritionist & adherance advice, the legal services, and for many of you, YOUR CASE MANAGER, are slowly but surely being stripped away from your daily lives here in the USA.

our president and his republican cronies, while you were dwelling in your sadness or basking in the sun, have rearranged the CARE ACT in such a way that the services you once held so dear have been carved like a thanksgiving turkey to the bare bones by agencies unsuccessfully searching to find some way to assign a medical outcome to them.

whether you are ill or depressed to the point of homebound, or feeling well enough to work and enjoy everyday life, the fact is folks that are not doing anything about what our legislators are doing to your meds and services are eventually going to find themselves wondering WHAT HAPPENED! it is time to take the blinders off people!

as someone who sits on 2 agency boards & the ryan white steering committee in my neck of the woods (upstate new york) i have been witness to our services being stripped first hand. our state has the largest number of positives, yet washington decided to transfer funds from epicenters instead of adding more money to help those states with ADAP waiting lisits.

if you choose not to engage in the process, that is your choice. if you do wish to do something, anything to change this vicious cycle from continuing, then take a stand and find the time to post on this thread and we will hopefully find a way to get you hooked up with an organization in your area. "C2EA.org" is a good place to start.

iggy, a quote from your bio:"It’s funny, there are so many morality tales about the risk of becoming too jaded or gloomy yet most don’t realize that there is an equal danger in feeling too optimistic. As with the danger of the labeled pessimistic and morose dwelling in their sadness, there is an equal risk (though often unrecognized or dismissed) of the happy and positive outlook people being too busy basking in the sun to realize the very pitfalls they are walking into. I should know, I was one of them."

i'm not sure why, but this quote in your bio seems to sound alot like what you just posted in this thread. hopefully i will find the right words to explain why your statements, in both, seem to reflect an atmosphere that has me so concerned today. this is not a personal attack on you. it is a commentary on the apathy of which you speak of.

I don't take it as a personal attack in the least...Actually I am grateful when I know people are getting my point which you do. Yes, what I wrote in my previous post and what is in my bio are related because they come from the same place of thinking.

I have been learning though that building a network of people who are willing to be active takes less energy and is more productive than yelling at others to join - This is why I say scream to those attract others who want to participate.